Cold lentil salad

Here we have a recipe originally developed by my brother's former girlfriend Elizabeth (not to be confused with my own current girlfriend Elizabeth), who ascribes the idea to a sudden, bizarre craving that she decided to follow up on. I love it because... uh, because it tastes good. Also because the ingredients seem like a strange combination until you either think about it really hard, or simply taste the salad.

Cook the lentils in about 4 cups of water until they are soft but not mushy, then drain them and rinse under cold running water to cool them off. Add everything else, chill and serve.

Hints:

If you're going to refrigerate the salad for an extended period before you serve it (longer than overnight, say), consider adding the almonds immediately before serving, to prevent them from losing texture.

The option of dried mint is left over from the original recipe as it was given me. I've only used fresh and I don't really expect that dry would cut it.